Well I've just returned from my shotgun trip up north for the Dragons-Storm game.

Was a fantastic night out standing with the other Storm fans singing all night and watching our side have a relatively comfortable win.

Big ups to the Dragons fans who threw bottles, cups etc at us as they walked out with 5 mins to go...showed real class!

Funniest thing I heard all night was when we were taunting the Dragons fans with a "Remember '99" chant, one bright spark turned around and said "Remember '06..what happened then"...umm we beat you in the Prelim you dickhead!! Has to be the worst retort I have ever heard!!

Managed to get my mug on TV a few times too.

Now onto Oki itself, I was actually really impressed. It's a nice little suburban ground and has a certain charm to it (perhaps that's because I'm used to the massive concrete monstrosities of the AFL). Didn't walk around too much, just walked in the gates and took up our position on the hill with the other Storm fans.

As for the crowd. About 9,100 was the official attendance. I know their side hasn't had the best start, but on a perfect night I thought 9,100 was pretty poor. I never want to hear anyone north of the border have a crack at the Storm's crowds again. In comparison, our crowds are pretty damn good.

Now for a couple of pics...

A nice friendly welcome!!

A sunbaked hill area

The main grandstand.

Just incase we forgot where we were!

Iz pretty good!!

Kick off!

A packed hill area during the game!

Was a fantastic trip, until the last few hours. Stopped off at Yass and left my wallet behind (which I didn't realise until our next stop, some 3hrs down the road). Got home and phoned the servo and the wallet hadn't been handed in and wasn't where I left it.

What scum of the earth steals a wallet? Sure take the money, I don't care about that, but at least hand the wallet back in. Absolute f***ing scum!!

_________________[b]Dasher's Asian Football Feast...check out my new blog:[/b]

You know, we already have a Kogarah thread but I suppose now is as good a time as any to start a new one!

I'm glad you like our humble abode and like everyone else I was disappointed with the crowd (which was 9,011 by the way) but I was not surprised at all. Our crowds have been crap this year. They should improve (2 out of the 3 home games so far have been Storm and Cowboys games which normally draw poorly) but they're still awful. Ah well.

Dasher39 wrote:

Spot the Cheesie once again!

Dasher39 wrote:

In about 12 months that grandstand will extend from the light tower on the right of the picture all the way to just past the left extreme of the picture. It's going to be pretty special.

_________________'Cause I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key,Come on now let's get together in perfect harmony.Oh I got 20 acres and you got 43,Now I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key.

Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:01 pmPosts: 2680Location: Just across the road from Australia's largest stadium

Nice twilight shots. As Dasher said, it seems to have a suburban charm now lost to the AFL in Melbourne.

Dasher39 wrote:

... standing with the other Storm fans singing all night and watching our side have a relatively comfortable win.Big ups to the Dragons fans who threw bottles, cups etc at us as they walked out with 5 mins to go...showed real class!

What - singing all through the game?? In that case, the Dragons fans were far too soft on you lot. They should've at least thrown some fists, not mere cups!!

If they were indeed singing all night they were doing so quite softly. I only recall hearing them once although admittedly I was on the other side of the ground. I thought our crowd did pretty well. Dragons crowds are normally quite quiet and have been disturbingly so for the Knights and Cowboys games but they made some good noise. Special credit to the Army who had their best chanting performance for quite some time.

hot_dogma wrote:

How many Storm supporters were at the game?

Two to three hundred. Two thirds of them in the traditional away supporters' spot on the hill and the rest scattered around the place.

Egan wrote:

Tell me again why this stadium needs more redevelopment

To annoy you. Best damn $16 million the government ever spent. Seriously though the principal concern of the money spent on the ground has been improving spectator comfort and general facilities/amenities. Capacity increase has been a secondary, but still necessary, concern. 17k was insufficient even if we have a few crappy crowds this year and in the future.

_________________'Cause I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key,Come on now let's get together in perfect harmony.Oh I got 20 acres and you got 43,Now I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key.

What - singing all through the game?? In that case, the Dragons fans were far too soft on you lot. They should've at least thrown some fists, not mere cups!!

Well there was a mix of singing and chanting throughout the game...the way it should be!

HMS Cheesemaker wrote:

If they were indeed singing all night they were doing so quite softly.

Well there was only about 10 of us that were doing the continuous singing and chanting, hence why we couldn't be heard around the ground. Oh well, the people in our area heard us.

HD, I spoke to a few Storm fans up on the hill and from the people I spoke to it was probably a 50-50 split of people from Vic and local Storm fans. I went up with 3 others and there was another group of 4 who drove up as well.

Sorry for starting a new thread too, had just got home and thought I had lost my wallet (good news, a nice bus driver found it and contacted me today so I could pick it up), so I was just lazy and started a new thread without looking!

_________________[b]Dasher's Asian Football Feast...check out my new blog:[/b]

Glad you enjoyed your trip Dasher. Yes the crowd was poor but I expect nothing less from Sydney-based Saints fans. Did you listen to any talkback on the trip back. If "Sack Nathan Brown," was turned into a song it would outsell anything by silverchair.

_________________I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin' sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where my future's lyin', St. Elmo's Fire

_________________'Cause I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key,Come on now let's get together in perfect harmony.Oh I got 20 acres and you got 43,Now I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key.

Kogarah's such a nice ground. Now if only WIN can get a new Western Grandstand as well.....

Makes an outsider wonder if they are interested really in doing that or if all this is part of a push within the St. George part of the club to have Kogarah as the only home ground the team has.....The Saints do have influential politicians as supporters you know, well, St. George that is.

Is this a misguided conspiracy theory? Who knows but I hope I'm on the wrong track.

_________________If a mans words are no better than silence, best he keeps quiet

Spending on Kogarah reflects the relative need of stadium redevelopment and of course political realities.

WIN Corporation's part ownership of the club was all about securing the future of the Illawarra side of the merger and guaranteeing that games are played there into the future.

If you want to buy into an alternate conspiracy theory some Saints fans have noticed the old proposed merger moniker of the "Steel Dragons" pop up here and there. It's probably just a coincidence but it is quite odd.

_________________'Cause I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key,Come on now let's get together in perfect harmony.Oh I got 20 acres and you got 43,Now I've got a brand new combine harvester and I'll give you the key.